The present invention relates to a new and improved construction of a trouser hanger stretchingly holding trousers at the legs thereof
In conventional trouser hangers, the trousers are suspended at their legs by means of two holders or retainers. This is achieved in such a manner that the holders project by several centimeters into the legs, namely precisely in the region of the creases. The trousers are thus stretched or tightened while being suspended from the trouser hanger and the creases therein are better preserved. It is known when using conventional trouser hangers that it happens relatively frequently that the one or the other leg of the trousers slides off from its holder although the correct stretching length of the trouser hanger has been selected, i.e. a trouser hanger stretching length which corresponds to the width of the legs of the trousers. Such undesired trouser leg slide-off even occurs when trouser hangers are used which contain holders with toothed or serrated trouser engaging edges and in which the holders are made of slide-proof plastics.
The cause thereof is predicated upon the usually relatively wide manufacturing tolerances observed in the clothing industry as compared, for example, with products manufactured in the machine industry. With respect to the legs of trousers, the width of such legs have different manufacturing dimensions, e.g. one leg may be wider than the other, for instance, differences of about one centimeter have been found. In conventional trouser hangers the narrower or less wide leg of the trousers determines the limits or effective length of the trouser hanger and, thus, there results a certain slackness.
Depending on the amount of play or clearance between the holder and the leg as well as on the type of trouser material which may be stretchable to a greater or lesser extent and which material may be smooth or rough, and furthermore depending on the slide resistance of the holder surface or the shape of the trouser engaging edges of the holders, one leg of the trousers may slide off from the trouser hanger in the most unfavorable case. When such trouser leg slide-off occurs more frequently, trouser hangers of greater length inevitably will be selected. While a more slide-proof tensioning or tightening is thereby obtained, such is extremely detrimental to the legs of the trousers due to the strong spring force of the longer trouser hanger. Specifically, the legs of the trousers are thus excessively stretched to an extent resulting in permanent deformation or distortion of the trouser legs in the region which is engaged and tensioned or strectched by the holders, especially when wet trouser legs are suspended from the trouser hanger. When using trouser hangers with a too high spring force and when, additionally, the entire spring force at each end of the trouser hanger acts only upon one single prong of the holder, the prongs occasionally may break off, particularly when the prongs are made of brittle and easily fracturable plastics. A number of problems are solved by the invention which is described hereinbelow.
There have also been proposed solutions to the aforementioned problems which, however, cannot work because in the construction of such trouser hangers an important law of mechanical statics has not been observed with respect to the action of the tensioning or stretching force. This law is the law of stable equilibrium. All the proposed solutions, however, are based on an unstable equilibrium, such as the solution which has been suggested, for example, in German Patent Publication No. 2,515,151. It is stated in claim 1 of this publication: " . . . rotational axes (7, 7'), about which the bifurcated holding means (8, 8') are pivotable." Should a pivoting adjustment be intended thereby for the purpose of compensating for differences in the widths of the trouser legs, which is not evident from the description in the aforementioned German patent publication, the drawing, however, unambiguously shows that the trouser engaging edges of the bifurcated holding means are positioned outside or in front of the rotational axes, whereby an unstable equilibrium condition arises.